An MP who spearheaded a community’s battle against a phone mast has been told local feeling is not a “determinative factor” in planning decisions.

The comment from the Planning Inspectorate was made after Steve McCabe raised concerns over approval for a 39ft telecommunications tower in Bournville. Over 800 residents had signed a petition against the scheme, at the junction of Hawthorne Road and Heath Road.

Birmingham City Council had rejected Vodafone and O2’s application back in February, but it was given the green light on appeal.

The Labour MP for Selly Oak was so incensed, he wrote to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, asking Eric Pickles what weight was attached to residents’ opposition. He also pointed out the mast would be close to “sensitive locations” such as Bournville Conservation area and Rowheath playing fields.

Mr McCabe said: “In that reply, the Planning Inspectorate rebuffed my argument by stating the ‘technical argument’, rather than level of local opposition, is the determinative factor when ruling on planning applications.

Selly Oak MP Steve McCabe

“The reply from the Planning Inspectorate arrived in my office the same day the Prime Minister announced a serious curtailment of the right of communities up and down the country to oppose unwanted developments.”

Householders had argued the mast was too close to the conservation area, would pose a highway hazard and cause property prices to plummet.

Mr McCabe added: “Development should not come at any cost and developers must prove that their schemes will be beneficial to the local community and have local support.

"If David Cameron’s proposed changes to planning law go ahead, communities will find it more arduous and more costly to challenge decisions. Mr Cameron should think twice about these changes and make good on his localism promise.”